Detachable support tray for ladders

ABSTRACT

A tray for supporting paint cans, buckets, tools and the like is quickly and easily removably attachable to or removable from the side rail of a ladder. This tray includes a latch assembly which can be manually manipulated by one hand to secure it to or change it from selected points of attachment on a ladder as may be desired for convenient access. When mounted, this tray extends laterally outwardly from the ladder so as to not interfer with the normal use of the ladder. It is foldable into a compact unit for storage or transportation and is adjustable for accommodation to ladder side rails of different thicknesses.

United States Patent [191 Emmons Aug. 13, 1974 DETACHABLE SUPPORT TRAY FOR LADDERS [76] Inventor: George Harvey Emmons, 11 S. 12th St., Marshalltown, Iowa 50158 [22] Filed: May 9, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 358,584

52 us. on. 248/238, 108/152 51 I t. Cl. F16m 13/02 [58] Field of Search 248/2l0,211, 238; 108/152 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 897,929 9/1908 Ridout 248/210 X 1,593,043 7/1926 Stroccker 248/210 2,710,051 6/1955 Grcenberg 108/152 X 2,837,306 6/1958 Elm 248/210 Primary Examiner-William H. Schultz Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Morton S. Adler 5 7 ABSTRACT A tray for supporting paint cans, buckets, tools and the like is quickly and easily removably attachable to or removable from the side rail of a ladder. This tray includes a latch assembly which can be manually manipulated by one hand to secure it to or change it from selected points of attachment on a ladder as may be desired for convenient access. When mounted, this tray extends laterally outwardly from the ladder so as to not interfer with the normal use of the ladder. It is foldable into a compact unit for storage or transportation and is adjustable for accommodation to ladder side rails of different thicknesses.

8 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTEU 31974 3.829.051

SHEEI 1 OF 3 PATENIEU Ave] 31974 SHfEI 3 OF 3 packaging for shipping.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to improvements in ladder associated detachable trays or shelves for supporting paint cans, buckets tools and the like.

The traditional step ladder usually includes a foldable tray-like support fixedly positioned near the top thereof so is well known and, depending upon the size of the ladder, these are not always at a convenient level for the user. Regular ladders, as distinguished from stepladders, are not equipped with such accessory trays although some endeavors have been made to provide detachable supports and trays generally required tobe mounted intermediate the ladder side rails so as to extend perpendicularly of the steps or rungs either forwardly or rearwardly where they tend to interfere with the convenient and safe use of the ladder. Likewise, the conventional tray ordinarily found on step ladders is not only at a fixed position relative to the heigth of the ladder but is always located intermediate the ladder side rails and extends outwardly or forwardly away from a person using the ladder so that at times, at least, it is not conveniently accessible.

A prior endeavor to improve upon detachable support trays for ladders is disclosed in US. Pat. No. 2,05 1,060 but such device appears to have certain limitations as to the type of ladder step necessary to support it and also appears to be susceptible to easy displacement. I have endeavored to overcome these several disadvantages as well as others as will be apparent and, accordingly, one of the important objects of this invention is to provide a detachable tray or support for paint cans, tools and the like which can be easily, conveniently and efficiently attached to or removed from the side rail of ladders having either narrow rung type steps or those generally employing flat wide steps such as found in step ladders.

Another object herein is to provide a support tray of the above class which includes a latching means on one end for secure attachment to a ladder side rail so that the tray extends in a horizontal plane outwardly from the side rail and can be mounted at a point convenient for use.

A further object is to provide that such latching means is conveniently operable by one hand so that it can be mounted, removed or changed as to location on the ladder and thus permit a person to keep at least one hand gripped to the ladder in the event he should be on the ladder when remounting, removing or changing the tray.

Still another object is to provide a tray as characterized wherein the latching assembly is adjustable to accommodate different thicknesses in ladder side rails and different angles of inclination thereon to assure that the tray remains on a level plane for its intended purpose and use.

Another object is to provide in a support tray of the above class for the convenient folding of the several components of the latch assembly into a planar position with the tray to facilitate its storage, transportation or The several objects and purposes of this invention as outlined and the advantages of the same will be more fully described and developed in relation to the more detailed description of the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of this invention showing the latching assembly in generally extended or operable position,

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view thereof with the latching assembly shown in folded position,

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of this invention showing the latching assembly in folded position, said view being the opposite side to that shown in FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of this support tray shown in use relative to a step ladder,

FIG. 5 is a similar view as in FIG. 4 but showing this tray in use relative to a regular ladder having rung type steps as distinguished from the wide flat steps on a step ladder- FIG. 6 is an end view taken from the line 66 of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary exploded view showing this tray in position to be mounted on a ladder, and

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 showing the tray in solid lines arranged relative to the ladder preparatory to moving the latch for which a secondary position is shown in broken lines and the path of movement thereof indicated by arrows.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings, this new ladder tray is designated generally by the numeral 10 as best seen in FIG. 1. Any suitable flat platform or tray component may be utilized such as at 12 on which I preferably provide the peripheral shoulder 14 for obvious reasons and for purposes of description, end 16 of tray 12 is designated as the inner end and end 18 as the outer end. Likewise, side 20 of tray 12 will be referred to as the front side and side 22 as the rear side. The apparatus for detachable and adjustably mounting tray 12 to either a ladder using wide steps such as a conventional step ladder 24 (FIG. 4) or a ladder having narrow rung type steps such as what I have referred to as a regular ladder 26 (FIG. 5) is secured to the underside of the platform or tray 12 for which reference is made particularly to FIG. 2 in the following description.

An elongated support preferably in the form of tube 28 is secured near and parallel to the front side 20 by any suitable means such as the rivet 30 at one end and the clip 32 near the other end where such end is split as at 34 and carries a friction clamp 36 in a well known manner. A ladder side rail or leg engaging member 38 includes an elongated arm in the form of a rod or tube 40 which at one end is telescopically arranged in tube 28 for rotation about its longitudinal axis and for longitudinal slidable movement relative thereto. At the other end of the long arm 40 there extends at a substantially right angle the short arm extension 42 that terminates in the hook member 44. Thus far described, it will be understood that the ladder leg engaging member 38 may be extended from and retracted toward the inner tray edge 16 and the position of hook 42 can be varied by rotation of arm 40 about its longitudinal axis within support 28. Release of clamp 36 permits either of these adjustments andtightening of clamp 36 will hold member 38 in any selected position. Such clamp 36, as indicated, is well known and are utilized for other parts herein as will appear.

A combination ladder rung and ladder side rail engaging member 46 is generally similar in shape as member 38 and generally similarly mounted. A support in the form of tube 48, similar to tube 28, is disposed near and parallel to the rear side 22 and is pivotally secured at one end by the rivet 50 and journalled at the other end in clip 52 with that part 54 of clip 52 that embraces tube 48 being slightly oversized relative to the diameter of tube 48 so as to permit of some lateral movement of tube 48 within the confines of part 54. Oppositely disposed on part 54 are the set screws 56 engageable with tube 48 whereby the relative position of tube 48 can be fixed for adjustment as will later appear. Tube 48 near tray end 16 is split 58 and includes friction clip 60 in the same manner previously described.

Member 46 includes an L-shaped member in the form of a rod or tube defining a long arm 62 that is telescopically arranged in tube 48 and a short arm 64 which carries a friction clamp 66 of the type described for telescopically receiving one end of an elongated arm extension 68 that terminates in the hook 70. Member 46 is thus extensible, retractible and adjustable similarly to member 38. Clamp 66 is provided particularly to permit positioning hook 70 in a planar position with tray 12 for storage or packaging.

Intermediate supports 28 and 48 and generally parallel thereto is the like support in the form of tube 72 with friction clamp 74 and secured as by rivet 76 and clip 78. A T-shaped abutment member or brace has its top portion 80 disposed parallel to tray side 16 and its shank portion 82, being preferably a rod or tube, telescopically journalled in supportt 72 whereby portion 80 can be moved in a parallel relationship away from and towards tray side 16.

A manually operable brace and latch member 84, preferably of rod or tube material, is generally channel shape in outline having the spaced parallel short arms 86 and 88 connected at corresponding ends by the long arm member 90. Member 84 is disposed intermediate supports 28 and 72 with the long arm 90 rotatably journalled in the spaced clips 92 and 94 and being spring loaded 96 so that normally arm 86 abuts the bottom of tray 12 and arm 88 is in a parallel plane with arm 86 but spaced outwardly from the inner edge 16 of tray 12 a predetermined distance where it cooperates with abutment member 80 to provide brace elements for engaging opposite surfaces of a ladder side rail as will appear in more detail in reference to the operation of this device. In this regard, however, the adjustment of member 80 described is designed to accommodate different thicknesses in different ladder side rails. A stop member 98 on tray 12 abuts the juncture of arm 86 and arm 90 so that longitudinal movement of arm 90 in clips 92 and 94 is prevented and arm 88 is thus maintained in its proper spaced relationship to tray edge 16. A handle or hand grip member 100 is provided on the free end of arm 86 to facilitate the movement of member 84 and thus constructed and arranged, this support tray is used in the following manner.

OPERATION Tray is mounted to the right side rail of the ladder as a person faces the ladder as indicated by side rail 102 for a step ladder 24 in FIG. 4 and the side rail 104 for what I have called a regular ladder 26 in FIG. 5. The procedure for attaching tray 10 to either of the ladder types 24 and 26 is basically the same with minor adjustments as will be mentioned and the step ladder type 24 is illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 to facilitate the description of the attaching procedure.

The side rail or ladder leg engaging member 38 is positioned generally downwardly and the ladder engaging member 46 is positioned generally upwardly so that hook ends 44 and are on different horizontal levels. With these initial adjustments, tray 10 can be easily held in one hand which can grasp handle 100 (FIG. 2) to rotate member 84 to place arm 88 in the position shown in FIG. 7, it being noted that arm 88 moves in an arc downwardly and forwardly from its spring held position shown in FIG. 1. In this position, it may be desirable to tilt tray 10 so that end 16 is inclined downwardly whereby in the step ladder 24, member 46 can be passed behind side rail 102 and in front of the rear ladder leg 106 to be in juxtaposition with the inner surface of rail 102. This movement will correspondingly position member 38 behind and in engagement with side rail 102 as seen in FIG. 8. Also, at the same time, arm 88 of brace 84 becomes oriented in a position transversely of the front edge of side rail 102 and just beyond the inner face thereof but elevated from the wide flat ladder step 108. This intermediate elevated position of arm 88 is necessary whereby release of handle 100 permits arm 88 to return to its original position shown in broken lines in FIG. 8 where it cooperates with abutment in embracing side rail 102. The path of return movement of arm 88 is indicated by the arrows 110. Having thus provided for arm 88 to clear step 108 in its return movement, tray 10 is then lowered so that arm 88 rests on and is supported by the wide step 108 as seen in FIG. 4. Hook 44 of member 38 is designed to abut the rear edge of side rail 102 as shown and if the initial positioning of member 38 does not accomplish this result, suitable adjustments for such purpose can be made as previously described. For the step ladder type 24, hook 70 of member 46 is not utilized as a hood per se but is oriented so that with arm portion 68 it bears against side rail 102 as seen in FIGS. 4 and 8. Since the thickness of a step ladder side rail is generally less than that for a regular ladder type, for the step ladder 24, abutment 80 will be extended to abut the exterior side of side rail 102 to cooperate with arm 88 in providing suitable bracing. Thus arranged, it will be appreciated that tray 10 is securely, but removably, mounted to the ladder and can be easily removed by reversing the procedure described as to the movement of member 84. Once members 38, 46 and 80 are properly adjusted for a particular ladder, tray 10 can be revoved and remounted at the same level or on a different level on such ladder as may be desired without further adjustments.

For the regular ladder type 26 in which relatively narrow rungs are used as distinguished from the wide flat steps in ladder 24, tray 10 is introduced in the same manner as described above and hook 70 of member 46 is hooked over a rung 112 so as to depend therefrom and be supported as shown. The arrangement of members 38 and 84 are the same as for the step ladder arrangement except it will be noted that on ladder 26, arm 88 is free of contact with the rung 112. Accordingly, since the support surface for hook 70 afforded by rung 112 is less than the wide step 108 supporting arm 88, it is possible a slight tilting of tray 12 away from a level position may occur and to correct this if it should occur, the adjustment of support 48 in part 54 (FIG. 2)

previously described can be made. Also, for ladder 26,

quired.

For purposes of storage or packaging, members 38 and 46 can be suitably rotated so as to be generally planar with tray 12 (FIG. 6) and thus in view of all of the foregoing, it is thought a full understanding of the construction and operation of this tray support will be had and its several advantages appreciated.

I claim:

1. A tray attachment for a ladder having spaced side rails and spaced steps connected thereto, comprising:

a flat platform having an inner edge,

first and second ladder engaging members secured to said platform so that corresponding ends of said members extend outwardly from said inner edge and terminate at different respective horizontal planes,

a third ladder engaging member secured to said platform and having one end extending outwardly from said inner edge,

respective means on each of said first, second and third ladder engaging members for engagement with a ladder side rail with at least two of said members engaging the side rail from opposite sides thereof so that said platform is disposed exteriorly of said ladder with said inner edge being closely adjacent the exterior surface of the ladder side rail, and

means on one of said ladder engaging members for engaging and being supported by one of the steps on the ladder.

2. A tray attachment as defined in claim 1 including:

said first and second ladder engaging members each having a long arm member and an angularly extending short arm member at corresponding ends exteriorly of said inner edge,

each of said short arm members terminating in a hook member, and

respective means for mounting said long arm members to said platform for rotation about their longitudinal axes and including releasable lock means for selectively holding said long arm members at different positions of rotation.

3. A tray attachment as defined in claim 1 including:

said first and second ladder engaging members each having a long arm member and an angularly extending short arm member at corresponding ends exteriorly of said inner edge,

each of said short arm members terminating in a hook member, and

respective means for mounting said long arm members to said platform for rotation about their longitudinal axes and for longitudinal slidable movement and including releasable lock means for selectively holding said long arm members at different positions of rotation and movement.

4. A tray attachment as defined in claim 1 including:

an adjustment member mounted to said platform and including an abutment member disposed in parallel relationship to said inner edge,

means on said platform to permit of the movement of said abutment member away from and towards said inner edge for cooperation with said third ladder engaging member, and

releasable lock means on said platform for holding said abutment member in selectived positions of movement.

5. A tray attachment as defined in claim 1 including:

said third ladder engaging member comprising a long arm having an inner end and the other end defining said outwardly extended end,

a first short arm perpendicularly arranged on said extended end and a second short arm similarly arranged on said inner end with said short arms being in a parallel relationship to each other,

means for mounting said long arm to the underside of said platform for rotation about its longitudinal axis,

said means being spring loaded to normally hold said third ladder engaging member in a position where said first short arm is in a fixed spaced parallel and substantially planar relationship to said inner edge for embracing a side rail and said second short arm is in abutting contact with the underside of said platform, and

said first short arm being manually rotatable out of planar alignment with said inner edge for purposes of mounting said tray relative to a ladder.

6. A tray attachment as defined in claim 5 including:

an adjustment member mounted to said platform and including an abutment member disposed in parallel relationship to said inner edge and in spaced parallel relationship to said first short arm,

means on said platform to permit of the planar movement of said abutment member towards and away from said first short arm for cooperation therewith in embraceably engaging a ladder side rail, and

releasable lock means on said platform for holding said abutment member in selective positions of movement.

7. A tray attachment as defined in claim 1 wherein the ladder is step ladder having wide flat steps, said attachment including a rigid arm on the extended end of said third ladder engaging member disposed on and supported by one of the ladder steps and being closely adjacent the inner surface of the ladder side rail.

8. A tray attachment as defined in claim 1 wherein the ladder is a regular ladder having narrow rung type steps, said attachment including:

the extended end of said second ladder engaging member terminating at a plane higher than that of the corresponding end of said first ladder engaging member,

a hook member on'the extended end of said second ladder engaging member, and

said hook member being hooked over one of the ladder rungs so as to depend therefrom and be sup- 

1. A tray attachment for a ladder having spaced side rails and spaced steps connected thereto, comprising: a flat platform having an inner edge, first and second ladder engaging members secured to said platform so that corresponding ends of said members extend outwardly from said inner edge and terminate at different respective horizontal planes, a third ladder engaging member secured to said platform and having one end extending outwardly from said inner edge, respective means on each of said first, second and third ladder engaging members for engagement with a ladder side rail with at least two of said members engaging the side rail from opposite sides thereof so that said platform is disposed exteriorly of said ladder with said inner edge being closely adjacent the exterior surface of the ladder side rail, and means on one of said ladder engaging members for engaging and being supported by one of the steps on the ladder.
 2. A tray attachment as defined in claim 1 including: said first and second ladder engaging members each having a long arm member and an angularly extending short arm member at corresponding ends exteriorly of said inner edge, each of said short arm members terminating in a hook member, and respective means for mounting said long arm members to said platform for rotation about their longitudinal axes and including releasable lock means for selectively holding said long arm members at different positions of rotation.
 3. A tray attachment as defined in claim 1 including: said first and second ladder engaging members each having a long arm member and an angularly extending short arm member at corresponding ends exteriorly of said inner edge, each of said short arm members terminating in a hook member, and respective means for mounting said long arm members to said platform for rotation about their longitudinal axes and for longitudinal slidable movement and including releasable lock means for selectively holding said long arm members at different positions of rotation and movement.
 4. A tray attachment as defined in claim 1 including: an adjustment member mounted to said platform and including an abutment member disposed in parallel relationship to said inner edge, means on said platform to permit of the movement of said abutment member away from and towards said inner edge for cooperation with said third ladder engaging member, and releasable lock means on said platform for holding said abutment member in selectived positions of movement.
 5. A tray attachment as defined in claim 1 including: said third ladder engaging member comprising a long arm having an inner end and the other end defining said outwardly extended end, a first short arm perpendicularly arranged on said extended end and a second short arm similarly arranged on said inner end with said short arms being in a parallel relationship to each other, means for mounting said long arm to the underside of said platform for rotation about its longitudinal axis, said means being spring loaded to normally hold said third ladder engaging member in a position where said first short arm is in a fixed spaced parallel and substantially planar relationship to said inner edge for embracing a side rail and said second short arm is in abutting contact with the underside of said platform, and said first short arm being manually rotatable out of planar alignment with said inner edge for purposes of mounting said tray relative to a ladder.
 6. A tray attachment as defined in claim 5 including: an adjustment member mounted to said platform and including an abutment member disposed in parallel relationship to said inner edge and in spaced parallel relationship to said first short arm, means on said platform to permit of the planar movement of said abutment member towards and away from said first short arm for cooperation therewith in embraceably engaging a ladder side rail, and releasable lock means on said platform for holding said abutment member in selective positions of movement.
 7. A tray attachment as defined in claim 1 wherein the ladder is step ladder having wide flat steps, said attachment including a rigid arm on the extended end of said third ladder engaging member disposed on and supported by one of the ladder steps and being closely adjacent the inner surface of the ladder side rail.
 8. A tray attachment as defined in claim 1 wherein the ladder is a regular ladder having narrow rung type steps, said attachment including: the extended end of said second ladder engaging member terminating at a plane higher than that of the corresponding end of said first ladder engaging member, a hook member on the extended end of said second ladder engaging member, and said hook member being hooked over one of the ladder rungs so as to depend therefrom and be supported thereby. 